


Trapped

by hermionesmydawg (orphan_account)



Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-05 10:05:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1814611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/hermionesmydawg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kensi and Deeks are involved in a serious car accident on their way to investigate a possible terrorist storage location in a heavily secluded area of California. With no available source of communication, they will have to be there for each other until they can find someone to help them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Assume that this take place sometime after the end of season 5 and that Deeks and Kensi still have not figured their thing out. This will be a short multi-chapter story. Huge thanks to aprylynn for the beta. For Nelly.
> 
> And as usual, I do not own NCIS Los Angeles, Deeks, Kensi, Cadillacs, or anything of the like.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

Kensi scowled without taking her eyes off of the road. "Yes. I know exactly where we're going."

"You sure? Cause I think we might be lost," Deeks teased.

"Just because you have no sense of direction does not mean we are lost."

Opening the glove compartment box, Deeks pulled out an old folded map of Southern California. Unfolding it and flattening it out across the dashboard, he made a grand show of scouring the map. "Nope. I don't see Bumfuck, Egypt on here. Are we even in Cali anymore?"

"Ass," Kensi grumbled, accelerating faster. She didn't know exactly where they were, but she had a pretty good idea. "And you sir, are a shitty navigator. Eric said we take this county road 22 miles and the old barn or whatever it is will be down a dirt road on the right. We've been on this road 11.6 miles, so we're halfway there. Quit your bitching."

Glaring at her, he folded map back up more neatly than he originally found it and placed it back in the glove box. He continued glaring when she started tapping her hands on the steering wheel to the Ke$ha song that came on her iPod. "You're really irritating, you know that?"

"Isn't that usually my line?" She was partially right; it was a phrase they both had uttered numerous times recently. Unlike on television or in books, unresolved sexual tension between two people didn't just keep getting more and more exciting. It merely put both of them on edge, especially when left alone with each other. They both knew it was a problem but refused to acknowledge or do anything about it, choosing instead to just apologize to each other after venting their aggressions and falling back into their old familiar patterns. Communication problems, they always said.

Deeks reacted as usual and ignored her comment, stretching his legs out and adjusting his jeans. "It kinda sucks that the GPS is disabled in this car. I mean, I know why it was, it would just be nice to have it. If we ever got lost or something."

"Ugh! Just shut up," Kensi snapped. "You have a freaking GPS app on your phone, use that if you don't trust me."

"I already tried that. Put the address in and it literally said," Deeks held his phone up to her face, "Does not exist. You're fucked. Good luck."

Kensi glanced briefly to her right. "It doesn't say that."

"Made you look. But it really doesn't recognize the address."

"Are you surprised? I mean, hello, potential terrorist storage facility. They probably built it out of-" She paused, staring at the road ahead. She was coming up on a small intersection and clearly had the right of way, but there was an old pickup truck approaching at what appeared to be a very high speed and wasn't slowing down at all. Kensi herself was driving at 80 miles per hour, and let off the gas to start slowing down but soon realized it wasn't good enough. The next conversation felt like it happened in less than two seconds and more than two hours at the same time to her. "Shit shit shit, that guy isn't stopping!"

"What guy?" Deeks looked up from phone as Kensi slammed on her brakes. "Whoa whoa, swerve swerve swerve swerve!"

"I'm gonna fucking flip this thing if I swerve!"

"You're gonna fucking flip this thing if he slams into us too, so fucking swerve!"

Kensi gritted her teeth, still trying to stop the small SUV and yanked the steering wheel too late as the truck barreled down on them, slamming perpendicular against the passenger side of her Cadillac. All she could see was white as she temporarily lost all sense of gravity and consciousness.

\--------------

The clouds were not as soft as she expected. At least, that's the first thing that came to Kensi's mind as she started becoming more aware of her surroundings again. Airbags, not clouds, she thought. Truck. Crash. She's upright, but she thought she was upside down. So quiet, why is it so quiet? The more conscious she became, the more she realized it wasn't quiet at all. Her ears were ringing, and she could hear the sound of a horn blaring. Airbags. Truck. Deeks. Deeks?

"Deeks?" Her voice cracked and she coughed, wincing in pain. "Deeks, say something." Blinking her eyes to focus and pushing the loose airbags away from her, Kensi twisted her head to the right. "Deeks? Deeks," she said more urgently. Her partner's head was tilted at an angle and his body was twisted; his top half was facing her and his bottom half...well, she couldn't tell. "Shit."

Kensi's heart started pounding in her ears as she untangled herself from her seatbelt and tried to check on her partner. She slowly noticed the damage to her vehicle more and more as she struggled to reach him. It was more cramped than usual, with the ceiling smashed in and the passenger door practically pushed in as far as the center console. Her window isn't broken, but Deeks' appeared to be because he was covered in glass. She desperately thought she needed to touch him, to fix him, but all that mattered to her at that moment was finding out whether or not he was breathing.

"Come on, come on." Leaning close to his face, she put her hands on his neck to check for a pulse while she listened for breathing. His breath tickled her cheek and she breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive. Unconscious, but alive. She started looking him over as best as she could. Most of his legs were trapped under what was left of the dashboard, to the point where his feet weren't even visible. Nothing appeared to be wrong with his arms or chest. The release of the airbag had burned the right side of his face and he had a large gash above his eye.

A drop of blood landed on his cheek, followed by another. Kensi wasn't thinking clearly and couldn't figure out that it was coming from her, not him, until she tasted blood on her lips. It was her nose bleeding, and she nearly cried out when she touched her face. Fingering the tip of her nose gingerly, she could feel it was already swollen and clearly broken. She felt around the backseat through the very small opening between the seats and was suddenly thankful that she was a huge slob when her fingers brushed a piece of clothing. She wiped Deeks' face and then held it against her nose, now feeling around for her phone to call for help.

"You can wake up at any time now, ya know," she muffled through cloth. If Deeks was awake, she thought he'd probably make a joke. Maybe something about how he knew she loved the sound of his voice. Or he'd question the panic in her own voice and tell her that he knew that Badass Blye was actually terrified to live without him. Both of which she'd deny despite being true. "Please wake up."

Her phone was nowhere within reach of her, and her ear com flew out during the crash. Sticking a finger in Deeks' ear, she felt that his was gone too. His phone had landed in the center console but she already noticed it was smashed beyond repair. "I told you to get one of those bulletproof cases, but noooo, you had to have the waterproof one!" She's not sure why she's fussing at him exactly, since it physically hurts her and Deeks isn't even awake to fight back with her. Somehow, it's making her feel better.

"We've got to get you out of here," Kensi spoke more softly. Pulling the handle on her door, she tried to push it open but it wouldn't budge. Next she kicked it, but still nothing. She grunted loudly in frustration and crawled gently over Deeks, pushing the airbag out of the way to see if she could climb out of his window.

A small groan escaped from Deeks' lips; it was so soft she could barely hear it but felt the vibration against her stomach. "Hey. Hey hey hey, can you hear me?" Her position was beyond awkward at this point, but she tried to look back at him and rub his face anyway. "Deeks? Hey?"

Silence greeted her again and she sighed, dejected. "I'm going to be right back, okay?" The passenger window was mostly open, with just a few shards of glass protruding up from the base of the window. "Ah shit," Kensi grumbled as she dropped her bloody cloth on his shoulder and grabbed the roof of the car through the broken window, twisting her body to pull herself through. Just as she thought she'd pulled herself out, her gun holster caught on the window frame. "Sorry Deeks," she said as she used his arm to push off with her feet. Her holster came free and she tumbled backwards, landing on her side in the grass with a whimper.

That painful feeling was familiar to her; she definitely had a cracked rib, or worse. Grasping her side as she stood up, Kensi looked back through the window again at her unconscious partner before taking in the scene of the accident. The Cadillac had flipped at least once, but miraculously landed upright again in a grassy area off the main road. About 50 feet away was the old pickup. The front of it was unrecognizable and the horn was blaring continuously. As she approached it slowly, it became evident why; the driver, an older man with grayish hair, was thrown partially through the windshield. The rest of his body was pressed against the horn on the steering wheel.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to hold down her breakfast burrito threatening to rise up at the sight of the man's broken skull through the window. Obviously she'd witnessed more gruesome scenes than this before, but today it made her queasy. She pulled open the passenger door of the truck and looked inside for a cell phone, car phone, CB radio, or just anything she could use to call for help. But there was nothing but empty cigarette packs and trash littered everywhere.

Kensi stepped back again and looked up and down the roads in the intersection. There were no other cars to be seen anywhere. Thinking back, she remembered that she'd only passed a couple of vehicles during that long stretch of county road. Of course there were no stores, or gas stations, or even houses within sight of the accident. Panic started to set it in as she realized she was essentially alone and helpless. Deeks was hurt and she had no idea how badly. She had no way of communicating that she needed help, that he needed help. Her only consolation was that even though both of their phones were likely ruined, they still had GPS trackers in them. Nell would begin to worry if they didn't check in soon. Maybe Sam and Callen would come looking for them.

Adrenaline was keeping her going, and she didn't need to give up. As she walked back to her destroyed Cadillac, she knew what her top priority was: Deeks. And there were only two things she could do at that point: wait, and pray.


	2. Chapter 2

A large part of her hoped that Deeks would be leaning out of the broken window of her demolished SUV with a smile on his face when she got back to the car.

"Where ya been?" Kensi asked as she approached her vehicle, impersonating Deeks. "Trying to get rid of me?"

"I wish," she answered herself, and laughed. Laughing hurt. Everything hurt.

Unfortunately when she peaked her head in the window he wasn't smiling at her, but she noticed that he had shifted slightly and was lying on his back. Her heart skipped a beat. Placing a hand on his chest, she shook him ever so slightly. "Deeks. Can you hear me?"

Deeks puckered his lips and nodded, eyes still closed.

"Don't move your head, okay?" Deeks nodded again. "I just said don't move your head, and you did it again anyway. Please try to keep your head and neck straight, okay? Please? I don't know how badly you're hurt."

Puckering his lips again, he tried to open his eyes and blink. "What happened?"

Kensi rubbed his chest again, not wanting to remove her hand just yet. "We were in a car accident."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Do you remember now?"

His eyebrows furrowed and he closed his eyes again. "I think. You didn't swerve."

"I-," Kensi started to argue with him, but thought better of it. "Okay. Well that's a good sign at least, you can remember that. Can you open your eyes for me?"

"It's too bright," he answered.

"Does your head hurt?"

"Yeah."

She looked at his face and body closely, seeing if there were any other obvious injuries she might not have noticed at first. The fact that she couldn't see the lower portion of his legs scared the hell out of her, but she tried not to show it. He hadn't moved at all since she asked him not to, thankfully. It had yet to be determined exactly how much he actually could move. "I need you to try your best to stay awake for me."

"Concussion," he said.

"Right."

"That's a myth you know." Deeks voice was strained and weak, but he was still strong enough to fight her.

She grabbed her bloody shirt from his shoulder and wiped at the gash on his head gently. "I know I said not to move your head, but can you move your arms?"

Deeks slowly raised his left hand and wiggled his fingers. When he tried to raise his right, he winced and just bent his arm at the elbow instead. "Shoulder," he said with a grimace.

"How much pain are you in?"

"What kind of question is that?"

His voice had an edge to it, but it made Kensi happy that he was at least awake enough to talk. Even if he was coarse with her, it was okay as long as he kept talking. "Um. On a scale of one to shoot me now?"

"Well, the more you talk, the closer it gets to shoot me now."

"Seriously."

"I didn't mean it that way." Deeks blinked his eyes again, squinting and trying to focus. "I feel stiff. I'm sore and it's starting to get worse every second." Kensi leaned further in the window and started picking the larger shards of glass off of his clothes. Still squinting, he cut his eyes in her direction. "You're hurt."

"I'm fine."

"Your face." Reaching up with his left hand, he touched her cheek where blood had smeared. "It's bloody."

"I said I'm fine," she lied again, focusing her eyes on his face and not the lower half of his body. The last thing she wanted him to do was start to panic.

"Of course you are." His eyes closed and he sat still and quiet again.

"Deeks." Kensi shook him again. "Deeks."

"Please let me go back to sleep," he begged.

She shook her head. "No, I need-"

"Goddammit Kensi!" Deeks cursed through gritted teeth. "My head fucking hurts and I can tell that something just isn't right. You won't let me move and you're being too damn nice with all of the okays and pleases. So either tell me what's going on or let me go the fuck to sleep."

"Fine," she growled back at him. "Fine. Your phone and our coms are destroyed and I can't find my phone in the car. So unless someone happens to drive by here, and I haven't seen any other people except for the fucking dead guy in the truck that hit us, we're shit out of luck."

"Alright," Deeks answered, twisting his face. Kensi could see that he was starting to get very uncomfortable and it made every part of her that was hurting feel even worse. "So what's the real reason you won't let me move? And don't give me any bullshit about first responder's SOP, okay?"

Finally content that she had removed all of the visible glass from his clothes, she smoothed his shirt nervously until his good arm snaked up and his hand grasped her. "I think you're trapped. In the car."

His adam's apple bobbed as he struggled to swallow. "Trapped?"

Kensi nodded even though he wasn't looking at her. "Your legs are under the dashboard. I don't know if they're broken, or if it looks worse than it really is, I just don't know." Panic crept into her voice. "And I don't know what to do and I hate this because I should know what to do and I just don't. You're hurt and I can't fix it, and the look on your face is just killing me right now. And, and...Deeks?"

The grimace on his face had softened and she didn't know if he fell asleep on purpose or lost consciousness again. "Dammit." She was sweaty, thirsty, worried, and angry. Stepping away from the window, she kicked her car in frustration and immediately regretted it. Somehow she kept forgetting in all of this that she was in pain, too.

Wiping her brow with her arm, she walked to the hatch and tugged on the handle. One door of the car was working at least. She rummaged through the mess, looking for some water and her emergency kit. If her car was messy before, now it looked like all of her garbage had been thrown into a funnel cloud and spit back out into her hatch. She quickly found a bottle of water and some of the contents of her kit, more specifically the item she was really looking for: the Percocet she was given after her return from Afghanistan. Pride didn't allow her to use them all at the time, but she held onto them in case of an emergency.

After searching through the hatch, Kensi still couldn't find her phone. She replaced the bloody shirt in her hand with a clean one, left the door open to help circulate more air for Deeks and then popped a pill, drinking about a third of the bottle of water in one gulp. Walking back to check on her partner, she saw that his eyes were open again and were staring at the ceiling. "Hey," she said softly.

"I want to get out of here," he replied weakly. "I need to get out of here."

"Deeks, I don't think-"

"Can we just try? Please?" He turned to look at her, eyes pleading. "I just really don't like to be pinned down, okay? And the longer I have to stay like this, the places I'm going to go to in my head are just going to get worse."

"Okay." She handed him the water and two pills, which he looked at warily. "Don't say anything, just take them and drink all of that water." Surprisingly, he agreed without a fight; that told her he was in worse pain than he was letting her know. She wrapped the shirt she was holding around her left hand, bracing it on the base of the window as she extended her right hand to him. "Help me back in."

Deeks grabbed her hand and pulled as she pushed herself up through the window again. The pain in her ribs temporarily blinded her while her eyes teared up, and she actually whimpered when she landed in his lap. "Sorry," they both said in unison. He finally bent his head down to look at her, struggling to crawl across him to her seat. "Why are you trying to act like you're fine?"

"Because compared to you, right now I am fine," she gasped, sitting up as best as she could. "Don't worry about me."

"Somebody has to."

"What does that even mean?"

Deeks rubbed his head. "Nevermind, we're not having this argument right now."

"Why not, ya know, and make things a little more normal?" Kensi wrapped an arm around her ribs and forced an uncomfortable chuckle out. "Sorry. I don't know. Okay. Try to get you out. Can you feel your legs at all?"

Deeks pushed himself forward in his seat and cringed when he saw his lower body. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Just breathe deep for a minute. It's probably just your head." Kensi awkwardly rubbed his back. She never was the best at verbally consoling him when he was hurt or upset; usually just her presence alone had a somewhat calming effect on him. "I get it, you know. When you said you don't want to be pinned down. I remember."

"Yeah, well. What's that thing they say?" He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose, then exhaled from his mouth. "There are some hurts that go too deep?"

Kensi paused for a moment, thinking that sounded like something from a movie and not some prolific quote. With Deeks and his uncanny memory, she never knew what he would quote at any point in time, even in horrible situations. Talking was good for Deeks, though. She needed to keep him talking and distracted.

"Yeah no, I understand. I, um, I don't like silence."

"Yeah?" He tried to push himself forward again with a wince. "Is that why you keep me around?"

A brief smile crossed Kensi's lips. "That almost sounded like a joke. You have no idea how good that felt."

"Maybe you shouldn't get used to it." Frowning, Deeks looked at his legs and the dashboard closely. "It's a little weird, but this doesn't hurt as much as it just feels weird and tight. I think if I move it's going to hurt like a motherfucker though."

"So don't move."

"No. I have to at least try. If we can move the dashboard, maybe I can pull myself out or something."

It didn't seem like the best plan, but Kensi agreed to try anyway. "Okay. Just know-"

"I already know. Push," he responded gruffly. She leaned on her knees and pushed on the dashboard while he disregarded his hurt shoulder and pulled upwards from his seat.

Nothing budged but they kept pushing and pulling until Deeks let out a blood-curdling scream like Kensi had never heard from him before. Letting go, she grabbed his hands and pried his fingers away. "Stop," she calmly said, surprising herself with her own voice. "This isn't going to help you."

His face crumpled and he grabbed his hair out of anger or frustration or both. "I know that," he spit out. "And now it hurts. Really hurts."

"I-"

"Shut up, Kensi," he interrupted. "Don't even say I told you so."

"Look," she fought back. "That's not what I was going to say. And you're perfectly within your right to be a complete asshole right now. Just believe me when I say the only thing I want to do is help you and help us right now."

Deeks shook his head and removed his gun from his jeans, leaning back against his seat with a pained expression. "I know and I'm sorry. Maybe you should put me out of my misery."

Her eyes grew wide as she stared at his gun. "Um..."

"No. I'm not actually going to ask you to shoot me. Yet." He stuck the gun in the now tiny gap between him and the center console. "It was poking my ass earlier."

A snort sounded from her nose and she grabbed her ribs again so she could laugh. "You really scared me for a second."

"You're not scared already?"

"Oh yeah, I'm scared shitless right now." Kensi rubbed his arm. "But we're going to get out of this."

Deeks met her eyes and the pain and stress he was feeling was so evident in them even though he was clearly trying to hide it behind his snarky behavior. She couldn't help but wonder why it always had to be Deeks that was on the receiving end of everything bad in life. Her father had been murdered, but he was forced to shoot his own in self-defense. She had taken a bullet but it was to the vest, while he took two to his gut and chest. They were somewhat evenly matched in the torture department, but she still gave him the win for that one too. And now this.

A warm tingly feeling was starting to fill her face, and Kensi knew that her pill was beginning to work. Hopefully the double dose that she gave her partner would bring him some relief soon as well. "You're doing really well, you know. All things considered."

Deeks gulped, still staring at her. "There's a reason I'm a good undercover cop."

She grabbed his hand with both of hers and she could feel how fast his pulse was racing. Unsure of what to say, she merely held his hand and listened to the wind blowing against the open hatch of the SUV. Her mind wandered, thinking that all of her sports bras were probably being carried up up and away. She thought it would be funny if one of them landed on the car window of some good Samaritan, who would then drive around in the middle of nowhere looking for the owner of a Hello Kitty sports bra and magically appear with a fire and rescue crew to return her unmentionables to her.

"So. Silence." His voice broke her from her thoughts. "You don't like it?"

"Nope," she answered, staring out the window. "Too many memories. Too many deaths, many of them at my own hand." She didn't want to ramble, but she sort of felt like it was a good thing. Deeks needed distractions. "When I got captured. In the desert. I was stuck in a cave by myself for a while. There was nothing but silence or yelling, and both of them scared the hell out of me. I started to think I was losing my mind there. They were torturing me without even trying."

A sour look crossed Deeks face at the mention of torture, and Kensi immediately regretted her wording. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said...Sorry. But anyway, that's why I always have music. And why I sleep with the television on. And put up with all of your talking."

"I don't like to sleep with the TV on." He shifted his position slightly and gritted his teeth, exhaling slowly.

"I know, it drove me crazy."

Raising an eyebrow, Deeks tilted his head in her direction. Under any normal circumstances, he would have had a plethora of remarks to say about the night he knew she was talking about. He chose to keep his mouth shut, this time, but would be sure to remember it for the future. "So. We both have things that make us a little on edge, yeah?"

"These are good things to know. For the partnership." Her ribs were barely even sore anymore. She could barely feel her nose. Maybe she was a bit tired, but it was beatable. "Are you still hurting as badly as before?"

"Eh. I feel like shit but I'm not caring quite as much right now."

A flash of something off in the distance caught the attention of both of them. "Is that?"

Deeks covered his still sensitive eyes. "Yeah, pretty sure that was glare off of a car."

"This is good, this is good," Kensi spoke, more to herself than to him. "I'll climb back out and flag them down, call for help." Removing her gun from her holster, she placed it next to his. "We are a couple from LA, looking to buy some land. Simple enough."

"Okay, decent plan," Deeks said with a grimace as Kensi began to climb over him again. "But isn't it about a 50/50 chance that whoever is in that car is headed the same place we were headed?"

She paused in his lap and shrugged. "We don't really have a choice. It's a risk we've got to take."


	3. Chapter 3

Kensi was starting to become an expert at contorting her body through the broken passenger window of her Cadillac SUV. Having one good hand from her otherwise immobile partner helped the situation a little bit, as it made it easier to keep from putting too much pressure on his hurting body.

"Okay, now lift my butt up for me."

Without protest Deeks pushed her up and out with his left hand as she guided her body out of the window. She landed in the grass with a gentle plop this time instead of the violent thud as she had previously. The impact of her landing was still enough to make her ribs ache again, even with the aid of her Percocet.

"What the hell did you give me?" His head bobbed and he jerked it back up. "I'm starting to feel kind of high."

"It's just pain medicine. Are you still hurting?" He nodded. "You'll feel better when we get you out of here."

"We'll see." Deeks slid her gun behind his back to hide it and tucked his own under his left butt cheek in case he needed easy access to it. "Hey Kens?" He spoke softly, looking down at his weapon.

"Yeah?"

"You're uh, you're not going to leave me here. Are you?" Swallowing hard, he looked up and met her eyes and somehow managed to convey in a single look what he was thinking: the last time he was unable to free himself, she came to his rescue only to leave him again. Kensi was just following orders then, and he knew that if she had a choice she wouldn't have left. But the damage that event caused was irreparable.

"Deeks." She leaned in through the window, gently cupping his neck with her hand. "I am not leaving you. They'll have to drag me away kicking and screaming."

Instinctively he leaned back against the touch and rested his head against his seat. "Okay. And I'll shoot them if they try."

"You're going to shoot them?" Kensi pulled her hand back, now glistening with his sweat, and wiped it on her jeans. "You have a concussion. And you can barely move your right arm."

"Are you going to start questioning my skills now? I may be seeing double, but I'll just shoot them twice. Left handed."

"Good to know." She gazed at him for a moment as he closed his eyes. The lone car, or actually lone SUV, on the road was getting closer and closer. "This group, Chechen right? With American connections?"

"Yeah," he grunted, trying to lift his head back up and blinking. "You're not going to be able to tell if they're bad guys or good guys unless you recognize one of them. Just always assume everybody is a bad guy."

Kensi frowned. "That's no way to live."

"You're approaching them unarmed. It's the only way to live."

She pointed to the pocket that held her father's knife. "I'm never unarmed. And besides, I've got you as my backup." Looking in his eyes one more time, she smiled reassuringly and turned her back to her car. The approaching gray Chevrolet Suburban was now close enough to identify, so Kensi started trotting painfully towards the road while waving her arms in the air. When she reached the road, she stood in the middle of it and waited.

The Suburban began to slow down about a quarter of a mile away from her. It pulled to a stop before reaching her, staying far enough away that Kensi wasn't able to discern any facial features of the SUV's occupants. She glanced back and forth between Deeks in her Cadillac, who she hoped was only pretending to be asleep, and the tinted windows of the gray SUV facing her. Suddenly she felt vulnerable and desperate as she waited for something, anything, to happen other than the stare down between herself and the headlights of the Suburban.

Raising her arms again, she waved them back and forth, then pointed to the wrecked vehicles in the grass. The Suburban still didn't move any closer to her, but the passenger in the front seat opened his door and stepped out cautiously.

"Help!" Kensi cried out. "Please?"

The man, tall and dark yet generic looking and plainly dressed, took a few steps off the shoulder of the road to look at the accident scene that was spread around them. A bulge under his shirt at his hip bone caught her eye immediately, and she knew he was carrying a weapon. Likely the rest of the SUV's occupants were as well. When he turned back to face Kensi, she gave him her best pleading expression. Very little of it was an exaggeration. Slowly she began to hobble towards the gray SUV. The hobbling was a bit of an exaggeration, but she needed as much sympathy as she could get.

"Please sir," she called as she approached him. "I need your phone to call for help. My boyfriend is hurt, please." The man didn't back away but didn't come any closer to her, either. Kensi couldn't help but think Deeks was right: assume he was a bad guy. Most people would have at least uttered a word at this point. Usually she would have been completely calm and collected in this situation. Deeks' desperation, and to some degree her own as well, was affecting her nerves and causing her to shake in her boots.

Swallowing her uncertainty about the man, Kensi stepped up to him. She mentally noted that there were two other men in the vehicle, both of whom looked similar to the one now staring at her face to face. She cleared her throat and grasped her ribs in an extravagant show of pain. "Please, I just need to call 911. You stopped because you wanted to help, right?"

He eyed her suspiciously, glancing back to his friends for a moment before pulling a cell phone out of his pants pocket. His fingers tapped a few times on the screen before handing it to her. A massive weight lifted off of her chest as she grabbed the phone and put it to her ear.

"911, what's your emergency?"

Kensi exhaled loudly. "Yes, I have been involved in a car accident. Two vehicles."

"Are you or anybody else injured, ma'am?"

"Yes, my uh, boyfriend is injured, he's trapped in the car. The driver of the other car is dead."

"Do you know the location or address of where you are?"

"Um. I think we're still in Los Angeles County, CR 122? I think another sign said Burma Road. The last mile marker was 32, I believe." She glanced nervously at the dark man staring impatiently at her. "Please hurry."

"Yes ma'am, we'll send the closest responders to your location as soon as possible."

"Thank you." Kensi pulled the phone away from her ear and stared down at it, wondering if there would be any way she could call in an agent in distress alert. She didn't want to risk leaving the phone number of any of the rest of their team members on this stranger's phone, but the agent in distress number required entering a personal code. "Can I make another call, to my mother?"

Tall, Dark, and Plain snatched the phone back from her. "No. I'm sorry. We are in a hurry." If he had an accent, it was so slight that she couldn't place what country it could have been from.

She frowned and nodded. "Oh. Well thank you anyway. Really. Thank you." Deep down she was kicking herself for not being more forceful with him, for not being charming or convincing enough to keep his phone long enough to make one more call. But she did what she needed to do, which was ensure help was on the way.

By the time Kensi had finished admonishing herself, the man had already climbed back into the SUV. She quickly moved off of the road and headed back to Deeks, but noticed that the gray Suburban didn't continue straight on the path in which it was previously headed. Instead, they made a three point turn in the road and drove back in the other direction. "Did you see that?" She yelled when she got closer to her partner.

"They turned around," he called back, though she could hardly hear him over the incessant horn of the truck. "Obviously don't want to be anywhere in the area when the cops show up."

"I didn't get to call anyone but 911," she said loudly. "At least I got that much, though. He snatched the phone back before I could even try to phone in an agent in distress call."

"I should have shot him." Deeks licked his lips. The stressed look had returned to his face again.

Kensi finally made her way back to her car; back to Deeks. The adrenaline rush was wearing off and her body felt like it was trying to fight every movement she made. She leaned against the smashed frame of the car. "He had a weapon, could have shot me instead of letting me call for help. Maybe they weren't part of the terrorist group after all."

Closing his eyes again, Deeks rubbed his left temple. "And add more bodies to potentially link them to a location close to where they're keeping their DIY bomb kits? No, he made the right choice."

Kensi narrowed her eyes, observing his mannerisms. His moods had been all over the place since the crash, but that was to be expected in someone with a concussion who was also trapped and just so happened to be terrified of that very thing. She figured out a long time ago how to handle mad Deeks, and was learning more over the last couple of years how to respond to scared Deeks. But the look on his face now seemed…sad. Sad Deeks was something she's only seen a few times; she felt ill prepared to handle it at the moment. "Hey. How are you doing? You're not looking very good."

He shrugged in response.

"We're going to get you out of here soon. I promise."

His head nodded slowly. "I know. This just. It's not how I imagined my last day working with you."

"Last…what?" Kensi reached a hand out to his shoulder and he recoiled with a grimace. "Sorry. Hurt shoulder. What are you talking about?"

"Think about it, Kens," Deeks replied with a huff.

"Hand." Kensi extended her hand to him and he shook his head. "Help pull me back in."

"Why do you want back in? You're not stuck here, I am."

"And we're partners," she said pointedly. "Where you go, I go. If you're stuck, I'm stuck. That's how we roll, right?"

A sad smile crossed his face. "Yeah. Okay."

Climbing back in the window far less gracefully than she climbed out, Kensi once again apologized for landing in his lap roughly. She quickly crawled back to her seat and pulled her knees up to her chin. "Why do you think this our last day as partners? You're not dying, you're just injured."

"Open your eyes, Kensi." He pointed to the dashboard. "Don't ignore it, just look."

She scowled at him. "My eyes are open, maybe you're the one that needs to open your eyes. It's just a car accident. You're going to be fine."

"Kens."

"What?!"

Deeks bit down hard on his bottom lip, fidgeting with the barrel of his gun under his thigh. A red tint crept into his cheeks as he tilted his head towards her. "My legs are broken."

"You don't know that-" Kensi started.

"I know it. You may have drugged me and my head isn't right, but I know."

"Okay," she said slowly. "So even if you're right, that doesn't mean you can't come back from this. You're going to come back from this."

"And what if I can't?" His face crumpled for a second before he composed himself again. "I could be out for weeks or months, and then rehab, and if somehow all of that manages to work I'd still have to pass my physical. By then you'll have a new partner and I'll be on desk duty for the rest of my career."

Kensi was still confused by her partner's thought process. Possibly the combination of his discomfort, panic, and pain medication was causing him to think irrationally. "Why do you think I'd get a new partner? When I was reassigned, my position wasn't filled. You are my partner, nothing is going to change that."

"Yeah, but…" Deeks sighed. "You're not the weak link in the team. I am."

"You are not the weak link." He opened his mouth to protest but she interrupted him. "We have no weak links."

His head dropped and he half-smiled, half-frowned while fidgeting with his gun. "It's just that. I um, I don't really have anybody now but you. And the team and work. I was sitting here watching you out there and trying not to think about how crazy I feel right now and how badly I want to get out of here. But it's not going to get better for me when I do get out. It's just going to get worse."

She held her legs close to her chest and did her best to give a strong, reassuring look to her partner. "You're right. It won't be easy. But don't push me away like you've done in the past. I'm here now, and I'll be there for you after we pry you out of here."

"But for how long?" Deeks clenched his lips together. "Till you get tired of fighting with me everyday? It's going to happen. We fight everyday already and up until you didn't swerve, we were both perfectly healthy. Your nose looks like it really hurts, by the way."

"It doesn't hurt as much as it did," Kensi said, ignoring the swerve comment.

"Oh, well that's good then."

"Deeks." Kensi sighed. "I know we fight a lot. And we both know why we do it, and I don't know, maybe one of these days we'll figure out what to do with each other. But none of that matters right now. Okay? You're-" She swallowed, forcing down the lump that had formed in her throat.

"You don't have to say anything life affirming to try to make me feel better," Deeks said softly.

"Just let me say something. We suck at talking so if you want to hear it from me, now is as good a time as any. You. Are. The most important person in the world to me," Kensi replied, her voice trembling slightly. "At the very least, we are partners and best friends. And I live with the fights, and our snarking back and forth, because I don't want the alternative. So you asked me how long I would be there? The answer is forever."

Deeks twisted his face up and rolled his neck, opening his mouth. But when no words came out, he grabbed Kensi's head and brought it to rest against his own. "Thanks."

"That's all I get, a thanks?" Kensi asked with a low chuckle as she tried to wipe her nose. She winced.

"I, uh, think if you hadn't drugged me I would have something really good to say back. Something better than what you said, which was pretty good. But for now can you let this half-ass hug mean…everything?"

"Half-ass hugs are still hugs. So yes."

Silence, save for the horn of the other truck still blaring, filled the Cadillac as they both sat with their heads resting against each other. Somehow, Kensi realized, that silence wasn't so bad as long as she was with Deeks. And even though Deeks was still anxious about having no control and being trapped in the car, she leveled him out enough to where he knew everything would eventually turn out alright.

"Has that horn been blaring this whole time?" Deeks broke the quiet.

"Yeah, you haven't noticed that?"

"No. It's really annoying now that I hear it. What's up with that?"

Kensi made a face, remembering the sight of the truck's driver. "The truck. Driver went mostly through the window. It's not pretty."

"I guess there are worse things than hurting like hell." Deeks grimaced, pulling his head back up away from hers to lean against his head rest. "Sorry for giving you a hard time about the swerving. Since I'm your favorite person in the world, I know you didn't try to kill me on purpose."

She rolled her eyes. "Not this time. And I should have swerved."

"Yeah, you should've." Closing his eyes, he exhaled slowly. "I'm going to sleep. Wake me up in a few months, yeah?"

"You said needing to stay awake after a concussion was a myth, so sleep." He needed to relax as much as possible anyway. Hopefully a rescue crew, whoever it may be, would be there soon. Deep down Kensi knew Deeks was right about one thing; he was hurting and stressed now, but it wasn't going to get much easier for him when help arrived. Sure, he would finally feel the relief of not being confined. But what if his legs were actually broken? They would only start to hurt worse when not supported by the car anymore.

Kensi sat, resting her cheek on her knees, and waited. It hurt to breathe in that position, but was still comforting all the same. Quiet time alone with her thoughts was something she liked to avoid; the first thoughts were always about her dad and how much she still missed him everyday. She thought about her mom and the fact that even though it wasn't perfect, it was nice to have a relationship with her again. This time she wondered if the team, her true family now, was worried about them and already on their way to find them. Thoughts about Deeks kept slipping in, and she just kept pushing them away. It hurt too much.

The sound of something other than a car horn caught her attention. Popping her head up, she squinted at the road and grinned. Sirens and lights, coming from a small firetruck, were headed in their direction. "Yes yes yes," she panted, reaching into her pocket to pull out her badge. Kensi prodded Deeks, who had fallen asleep as soon as she had told him to. His face curled into a frown and he kept his eyes squeezed tight. Grunting, she strained to reach into his pocket for his badge. The snug denim scratched her knuckles but she managed to loosen his pocket enough to pull his wallet out, opening it in his lap. Next she grabbed both of their guns, ejecting the magazines from them and setting them next to her.

The speeding red Fire and Rescue vehicle skidded to a stop off the shoulder of the road not far from the wrecked truck. Three men, a driver and two passengers climbed out and separated to inspect the accident. A middle-aged blond man trotted over to her Cadillac, speaking into his two-way phone to notify dispatch that he was the first on the scene and would be taking command. His eyes quickly looked over her car before sticking his head in the broken passenger window.

"Ma'am, we're going to get you taken care of soon. Are you injured, or just the passenger?" He looked in the car, assessing Deeks' situation.

"I'll be okay, he's the one I'm worried about." Kensi lifted their badges. "My name is Special Agent Kensi Blye, NCIS. This is Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD. We have weapons that I've already unloaded, just wanted you to be aware of that."

"Appreciate the heads up, Agent Blye. My name's Tom, by the way. Can you pop your hood for me, please?"

She reached under the steering wheel to release her hood latch. Tom wiggled the smashed hood and managed to pop it open, disconnecting the battery. More sirens could be heard off in the distance. Kensi ran a hand over Deeks' damp forehead and his eyes opened with a startled jolt.

"Hey," she said.

"What's up," he groaned.

"They're going to get you out of here," she answered with a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

It was nerve-wracking to Kensi that Deeks appeared more and more squeamish with each new emergency vehicle that arrived at the scene of their accident. So far the level of expertise that had shown up was impressive to her, especially considering they weren't within any major city limits. She rubbed Deeks' arm and talked with Tom, trying to lighten the tense mood in the car. It still didn't stop his jaw from visibly clenching every time someone brought out a new piece of equipment and laid it next to the Cadillac.

"This is a pretty nice setup you've got, Tom," Kensi told the firefighter when he returned again, this time with a spine board and oxygen mask.

"Thanks. We're a volunteer fire department for the Rolling Hills community, not too terribly far from here. I do a damn good job of writing our grants if I do say so myself." Tom placed the oxygen mask gingerly on Deeks' face, avoiding the gash on his head. "You can pull this away when you want to, Detective. And sorry this is taking so long, anytime there is a fatality they have to do an investigation. We're about to start the extrication soon, though."

Deeks' eyes grew wide when he looked at the Jaws of Life and hydraulic piston needed to release him from the car. He breathed in deeply from the oxygen mask and pulled it down off of his face. "This is really going to suck."

"You'll be fine. I'm sure they do this all the time," Kensi tried to reassure him. A skeptical look briefly flashed across Tom's face, but luckily only Kensi saw it. "Okay maybe not all the time, but they've definitely done this before." This time Tom smiled and nodded.

"Are you familiar with the extrication process?"

"Yeah," Deeks responded. "I worked my share of accident scenes before I made detective."

"Alright then. You're in good hands, Detective," Tom said. "Agent Blye, can I help you out of your vehicle?"

Kensi frowned. "Can I not stay with him?"

"No ma'am, protocol. The ambulances are here now," he pointed in the direction of several emergency vehicles. "You need medical attention as well."

"But I-"

"Kensi," Deeks interrupted with a groan. "The sooner you get out of here, the sooner we can get this over with. So how about not kicking and screaming? Please?"

She sighed and dropped her head. "Fine." Untangling her arms from her legs, Kensi began the process of climbing out of her totaled SUV one last time. Tom extended his hands to her, and another firefighter came over to assist by literally picking her up out of the car and placing her gently on the ground. She nodded a thanks to the two men, then turned to Deeks. "I, um, will be waiting for you. You'll be fine."

Deeks managed a weak smile. "Yeah. Go get checked out, okay?"

Turning around, Kensi walked away slowly towards the ambulances. She didn't want to turn back to see what was going on but was unable to stop herself from looking one more time. The site of her mangled car and the passenger still inside of it made her feel so weak that she could barely stand. She quickly turned away again, trying to make it to one of the ambulances but everything around her started spinning in slow motion. She could see someone, an EMT probably, motioning for her to come closer. But the culmination of her nerves and pain and worry finally took over her body and she collapsed to the ground.

_________________________________________________

For the second time that day, Kensi awoke in a confused state. At first she thought she was falling but her equilibrium soon balanced itself out; she just hadn't expected to be flat on her back. There were no clouds or airbags to rest on this time, only the thin and uncomfortable stretcher in an ambulance.

"Kensi," a familiar deep voice spoke to her. "Are you awake again?"

"Deeks?"

"Not quite," Callen answered. "You're talking this time, good. You've been waking up and going back under for a little while now."

Kensi blinked her eyes, focusing on the leader of her team as she tried to sit up. Callen gently pushed her back down again. "What took you guys so long?" Her voice was muffled by the oxygen mask on her face.

He rolled his eyes. "Sam drove."

"I heard that," Sam countered from behind him, climbing into the ambulance. "And you're the one that got us lost."

"Nell said-"

"No, Nell wouldn't have gotten us lost. You just weren't listening," Sam interrupted.

Kensi pulled her oxygen mask off and sat up again, slapping Callen's hand away as he tried to stop her. "Where's Deeks?"

The senior partners exchanged a glance. "I just checked on him," Sam said. "They got him out. He's in the other ambulance."

"I need to see him." Shakily she stood up, wincing at the tug from the IV in her arm. She hadn't even noticed it hooked up beside her. "What the hell?"

"You need to lie down, you're dehydrated and God knows what else is wrong with you," Callen protested, moving next to Sam to block the exit of the ambulance.

Kensi sat on the stretcher but didn't lie down. "How did you find us?"

"Nell started to worry when she didn't get a report from you guys, checked the GPS on your phones. Yours wasn't traceable, but Deeks' was. The location was close to the barn-"

"Barn?" Sam asked.

"Barn, shed, house, I don't know," Callen continued. "Anyway. She told us that something wasn't right when she couldn't get in touch with you. On our way, Eric called and told us about your 911 call. He'd been monitoring them, just in case."

"About that." She stood up again, steadying herself. "Get Eric to trace the number I called from. It might belong to one of the guys we're hunting down."

"You're serious?" Callen asked.

"You used a terrorist's phone to call 911?"

"And they let you?"

"You didn't arrest them?"

"Where would she have put him, Sam?"

"Good point."

"Okay, I get it," Kensi said, agitated. "Now please get out of the way, I need to see my partner."

Callen shook his head. "No."

"I don't think it's a good idea." Ever the calm voice of reason, Sam slowly held a hand up to stop her.

Kensi tugged the bag of saline off of the hook next to her and stood her ground. "Move," she growled.

Sighing in unison, Sam and Callen parted in each direction, letting her storm out of the ambulance. When she jumped to the ground, her legs wobbled and she fell to her knees. The impact jarred her ribs and reminded her again that despite her attempts to act otherwise, she was actually human, and injured. "Shit," she cursed, pushing herself upright again.

"Kensi!" Sam bellowed, jumping out of the ambulance.

"I'm fine!" She chose not to turn around to yell since the grimace on her face would have given away that was in fact, not fine. "Don't you two have terrorists to be tracking down?"

The sigh that escaped from Callen's lips was probably loud enough to be heard a mile away. "We'll meet you at the hospital!"

Kensi gripped her ribs tightly and jogged to the next ambulance, haphazardly pushing rescue workers aside along the way. Though there were only a few EMTs in the ambulance, to her it seemed like there were at least 20 people obstructing the view of her partner. "Excuse me, please, excuse me," she said as she pushed her way in.

"Ma'am, please," a female EMT, who looked like she still belonged in college, said as she tried to block the entrance. "Sorry. Agent Blye. You need to be lying down. Go back to your ambulance."

Kensi weaved her head around the EMT's body. Deeks' shoeless feet and limp legs were facing her direction. She didn't know what she expected to see, but for some reason the last thing she imagined was blood. But there was blood. Enough blood to soak the bottom of his jeans and socks. Squeezing her eyes shut, she begged of the young EMT. "Please let me in. My partner needs me."

"Hey, is that the driver?" A deep voice called from further back in the ambulance.

"Yes, yes I am!" Kensi hollered back.

"Let her in," the deep voice sounded again.

A small opening formed at the doorway and Kensi lunged forward into the confined quarters. Then she froze, staring at her partner on the stretcher. The site of him lying there, writhing uncomfortably was far too familiar to her. If she had to guess, Deeks was probably having the same flashback that she was; the torture, ambulance ride, emergency room, and Kensi being forced yet again to leave him. "I'm here," was all she said as she looked down on him.

Her eyes migrated to his legs again, the only part of his body that wasn't wiggling. The lack of movement there and all of the blood was making her nervous, and she really hoped it didn't hurt as badly as it looked like it should. Tearing her eyes back up his body, she smiled reassuringly at him. She didn't expect a smile in return and wouldn't have been able to see it anyway with the oxygen mask covering his face. Searching his eyes, she saw that at least the fear had disappeared from them. Instead of turning away, Deeks met her eyes briefly and brushed her hand with his fingertips.

"He said you gave him something."

The spell was broken. Kensi looked back at the EMT that had spoken to her. "What? Oh yeah." The door of the ambulance shut loudly behind her and the female EMT motioned for her to sit down. "I gave him 2 Percocet earlier. I'm not sure how long ago, sorry. I don't even know what time it is." She looked down at her watch. Almost 6:00 p.m. She should have known that, usually she could tell time just by the angle of the sun. Too preoccupied to even look, she figured.

"Okay, well, unfortunately for your partner here, we can't give him any pain medication until most of that has passed out of his system. Just to be on the safe side." The EMT took her IV bag from her hand and hung it up on a hook across from her.

"Thanks," she said absentmindedly. With both hands free now, she wrapped them around Deeks' closest hand and squeezed. He squeezed back firmly and mumbled something that she couldn't understand. "What'd you say, Deeks?"

"You probably don't want to know. He wasn't too happy when I told him he probably couldn't have morphine right before you came over."

"Oh." Kensi looked down apologetically. "I'm sorry, I just didn't want you to hurt anymore. How are you doing?"

Deeks blinked at her and mouthed "I'll make it" before turning his head away.

"How bad is he?" She asked of anyone that would answer.

"Hard to tell until we X-ray. Likely a concussion and numerous fractures in the lower legs and feet."

"Right." Kensi squeezed again and rode the rest of the long trip in silence, all the while keeping an impossibly tight grip on her partner's hand.

It was dark outside by the time the doors of the ambulance opened at the Emergency Room entrance to the LAC-USC Hospital. Suddenly everything seemed to become a blur of nurses and doctors and machines as Kensi was ushered out of the ambulance and into the ER. She and Deeks were separated immediately as he was taken behind closed doors and she was sent to wait with everybody else in the waiting room.

A nice looking older woman led her to a seat close to the triage area. "You sit, dear, I'll get you signed in okay?" Kensi nodded numbly. The woman had a name tag that said Nancy. Nancy seemed nice and helpful, like a grandmother. Paperwork on a clipboard was soon dropped in her lap, and she began the process of writing all of her personal information and struggling to remember all of her medical history. "Concussion, 2010. Motor vehicle accident, 2012. Cracked rib, 2012. Skin Lacerations and minor burns, 2012. Multiple contusions and cuts, 2014."

Saying her recent history out loud to herself, she realized it would raise some red flags in the system. She didn't want to have to explain her job to a social worker, so she opted to only write in the cracked rib. Just as she was about to stand up to return her clipboard, Nancy appeared in front of her again with another clipboard and a brown leather wallet.

"Martin asked them to give this to you to fill out, sweetie."

Kensi smiled for a second. "Marty, really. But okay. Do you know how he is doing? He went straight back, are they working on him?"

"Sorry dear, I'm not privy to those details." Nancy smiled apologetically.

"Right. Sure." She handed her own paperwork back, with her drivers license and insurance card, and began filling in Deeks' information. It wasn't until she got to the box for insurance number that she realized she had known everything else about him from memory, even his social security number. It was a far cry from the first time she'd held his wallet in a hospital as she waited for him to come out of surgery to remove two bullets. She knew almost nothing about him then.

Thumbing over the soft leather for a moment, she flipped the wallet open and began sorting through the contents to find his insurance card. It felt like an invasion of privacy, like if he were rifling through her purse, so she tried not to pay to much attention to anything that didn't have a blue cross and shield at the top of it. As she was flipping through cards, a small piece of paper fell out of the stack and floated to the floor. She bent over to pick it up, of course feeling the pain of her ribs and the sinus pressure on her broken nose again as she did.

What Kensi saw on the paper was worth the pain she had to go through to pick it up. What she now held in her hands was, in her opinion, a horrible picture of herself printed onto plain copy paper. She definitely remembered that day on the beach where the photo was taken, when Deeks wanted to give her surfing lessons for the first time. Before they swam into the water he had held up his phone to take a picture, stating he wanted a memoir of the first time he was able to kick her ass at something. She'd stuck her tongue out at him and made a Shaka sign, correctly, with her hand. Of course she was a natural and ended up blowing him out of the water. He never would admit that he purposely surfed poorly that day just to make her look better, but she always suspected it.

Kensi stuck her tongue out at her own picture and laughed. Such a silly picture, but apparently it meant so much to her partner that he felt the need to carry it everywhere. A twinge of something tightened her sore chest. She didn't know if she felt sad, or happy, or remorseful, or nostalgic. Things were much simpler between them then. They hadn't had the opportunity to do everything completely and utterly wrong yet.

"Blye!" A gruff sounding male nurse called from a swinging door, looking at her pointedly.

She raised her hand. "One second!" Kensi shoved the picture back in Deeks' wallet and found his insurance card, jotting his numbers down. The last box that needed filling out was "Emergency Contacts." There wasn't much point in putting herself down and he didn't have any biological family, so she listed Sam and Nell. She stuffed his wallet in her back pocket with her badge and headed to the front of the waiting room, dropping Deeks' information off and picking her own cards back up along the way.

The rest of Kensi's evening dragged on slowly. With every new staff member she saw, she inquired about her partner's condition. No one ever knew anything, or they didn't say that they did. She waited in a small exam room for a while, headed to have X-rays taken, saw one doctor for her ribs, walked to the laboratory for bloodwork, saw a plastic surgeon about her nose, and then was finally done for the night; with her own medical problems, anyway. Her final diagnosis: three fractured ribs and a broken nose. Her nose was bandaged, her ribs weren't, and she was given instructions and a prescription.

By 10:00 p.m., Kensi was anxious to get out of the hospital and get a shower. She was more anxious to see Deeks, though. As she walked painfully through the halls, she listened to conversations at nurses stations and peaked into rooms until she literally almost bumped into a petite redhead.

"Kensi! Hey. Do you know how frustrating it is that neither of you have a cell phone? And you put your mom down as your only emergency contact, which means nobody here would tell us anything about you. How are you? Are you okay? And seriously. You didn't even fill out your HIPAA forms, all you did was sign them." Nell crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot for a few seconds before huffing and wrapping her arms around Kensi. "I'm glad you guys are okay."

"Whoa, Nell, don't squeeze too hard," Kensi said jokingly. Nell released her immediately. "Deeks. Please tell me you've seen him, or know where he is? I haven't seen or heard anything since the ambulance ride."

Nell nodded and pursed her lips. "He's in a room now. I'm not sure of all the details, but I do know they're going to have to perform surgery on his...right leg, I think? I think. Sam is with him. Callen was here but just left. I'm about to head out as well, but I was trying to hunt you down." She bit down on her lower lip. "He's been asking about you."

"Yeah." Kensi sighed. "Where is he?"

"Go up one floor, take a right, then a left. There's a nurses station, and he's in the room adjacent to it." Nell pointed down the hall. "Elevator is right there." She gave Kensi another quick hug. "He's going to be fine."

"Thanks, Nell." Kensi continued down the hall slowly towards the elevator.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Nell called out from behind her. "I'll get you guys new phones tomorrow. They found yours when they towed your car. It was underneath one of your tires."

"Seriously?"

"Yup." Nell smiled. "Physics is crazy. Good night."

"Night..." Kensi pushed the up button on the elevator and lamented over the fact that she would usually never use an elevator for just one flight of stairs, but she was too tired and sore to even find the stairwell. When the doors opened one floor up, she walked quickly towards the nurses station and was met by a plump young woman.

"Visiting hours are over, sweetie," the nurse told her.

"I know and I'm sorry, but I need to see Marty Deeks." She pulled out her badge. "Special Agent Kensi Blye, NCIS. He's my partner."

The nurse furrowed her eyebrows and grabbed a chart from her pile, flipping through it. "Blye...Kensi. Right. His insurance has you listed as his next of kin."

Kensi's mouth dropped open. "What?"

"You can see him, but the other visitor needs to leave."

"Yeah. Sure. Okay." She nodded and walked numbly to Deeks' room, knocking three times before pushing the door open. Sam stood up, alert, and put a finger to his lips, pointing to her sleeping partner.

"It's about time," he whispered. "All he's done is ask where you are. I'm getting out of here."

"Thanks, Sam." Kensi leaned into the burly man. "What do we know, about his legs?"

"Left isn't too bad really, fractured tibia. The right side is worse, tibia and fibula were both shattered, and a few bones in his foot were broken as well. They have him braced and comfortable right now. Surgery tomorrow, hopefully. Plus he has a concussion and a separated shoulder."

What little color was left in Kensi's face drained out and suddenly she felt very cold. She stared at Deeks, resting peacefully in his reclined hospital bed. His hair was even more disheveled than usual but he looked relatively clean in his hospital gown. A small sling kept his shoulder in place. "Oh my God."

"It'll take some time, but he'll be okay." Sam squeezed the back of her neck gently. "You need some sleep, too. We'll be back tomorrow."

"Yeah. Thanks." She heard the door click closed behind Sam. Her chest tightened and all she could do was stare at her partner asleep in bed, broken yet again. Finally there was nobody around to judge her or view her as weak, so she allowed the small sob that had building for hours to escape her lips. That broke the dam of tears and soon they were spilling out uncontrollably, and soaking her nose bandage, as she released all the tension from her body.

"It's not like I'm dying," a scratchy voice startled her. "I'm not dying, right? That wouldn't be cool."

"Geez," Kensi sniffled painfully. "I thought you were asleep."

"I could be, if that's what you want. Sam was talking so much that I pretended to pass out so he would shut up. I kind of was asleep until these little squeaking noises woke me up."

"Shut up," she said as a smile crept on her blotchy face. "How are you feeling?"

Deeks opened his eyes and squinted. "You look like shit."

"Thanks. Answer the question."

He stretched his good arm out, twisting his wrist around. "Not gonna lie to you, I'm pretty high right now. But I know my badge number and name and not just because it was written in my underwear." Kensi snorted. "How are you? You disappeared. I was worried."

"Don't worry about me," she answered, waving a hand dismissively.

"Kens."

"Broken nose and cracked ribs. I'll be back to normal in no time."

"Uh huh. You've never been normal." Deeks raised his glassy blue eyes to her wet ones without lifting his head off the pillow. "I know it was an accident, ya know, just saying. I don't want you to blame yourself because I don't blame you. Shit happens."

Kensi nodded and pointed to an empty space next to him on the bed. "Is this seat taken?"

"Saved it just for you," he answered, tilting his head down.

Sitting gently, she faced him with her leg curled underneath her. "What you said, in the car, about not being able to work again. I don't believe it for a second. It'll be hard, but we'll have you back at work before you know it."

"We?" Deeks raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. We." She cleared her throat. "I'm not going to let you push me away this time. And if it's okay, actually no I take that back, it doesn't matter if it's okay or not. I'm going stay with you while you recover and take you to your appointments and help with therapy and all that stuff. Whatever you need."

The expression on his face was a mixture of sadness and relief. "That's um. That's a pretty big commitment there, partner."

"That's what 'too complicated to put a label on it slash partners slash friends' are good for, right?" She smiled easily at him. "Besides. All of this partner time will give us a chance to talk about some things."

"Things?"

"Yes, things. Like the fact that you carry a picture of me in your wallet and named me your next of kin, things."

"Oh. Those things." Deeks forced an exaggerated yawn. "I'm really tired. It's been a long day, and I need my strength for tomorrow when they make me a bionic man."

"Fair enough." Kensi gazed at Deeks quietly as he tried to get comfortable in his bed. Offering to be his caregiver during recovery had not been a premeditated move on her part. She was actually a little stunned when the words came out, as if she had no control over her speech. But it was a good thing, it was the right thing. It wouldn't be easy by any means, but they would get through it.

Deeks appeared to have fallen asleep again, so Kensi slid off the bed quietly and sat in the reclining chair next to his bed. She'd forgotten to ask Sam to stay long enough to drive her home and probably wouldn't manage to stay awake more than a few more minutes anyway. Twisting and squirming, she managed to find a position that didn't press painfully on her ribs. Before she drifted off to sleep, she heard a chuckle from the bed.

"Something funny?"

Deeks smiled, eyes still closed. "Nurse Kensi."

"Funny."

"Sponge baths."

She chuckled softly. "Go to sleep, Deeks."

The room was quiet again except for the beeping of machines and whirring of his blood pressure monitor. The pattern of noises was something for Kensi to focus on as it lulled her to sleep.

"Hey, Kens?" Deeks mumbled again.

"Yeah?" Kensi asked, only slightly irritated.

"You can sleep with the TV on this time. When you stay."

She smiled and waited for the sound of his snoring to flood the room before whispering. "Thanks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter. This was written for my friend Nelly (ncis-los-angeles on Tumblr), who loves it when Deeks suffers. We all do really, though, don't we?
> 
> Just in case anybody is wondering why Deeks wasn't screaming his head off the entire time while he was stuck in the car due to his extreme injury, I used a reference. A good friend of mine shattered her elbow in a car accident and said that she actually wasn't in severe pain right away. Of course it ended up being very painful, but sometimes traumatic accidents delay reactions a bit.


End file.
